Deals are coming in for a Shipley firm which has made the most of a trade mission to Iceland.

Airedale Rollers, part of the James Walker Group is finding customers in Iceland warming to their products thanks to the mission organised by Business Link Bradford & District.

Airedale Rollers make rubber and polyurethane coated rollers for use in the printing, textile and food industries.

Stephen Lill, the firm's sales director, said: "Many companies disregard Iceland as it has a small population and they think there will be no market for their products. But after doing some research we found that there were 102 firms in Iceland that were in the field we target so we were pleasantly surprised.

"We didn't have to drop everything to organise it as Business Link organised all the travel and accommodation and made sure we had a list of contacts over there with whom we could make appointments. The visit itself was very successful, we received a first order of £6,000 which we expect to improve on," he added.

Mr Lill is currently in Iceland where he is signing a distributor agreement. He said: "I met our new distributor while I was on the mission and we are starting to see our efforts bearing fruit."

Helen Downer, of Business Link, said: "Iceland is often neglected by exporters in the UK which is a shame because the Icelandic market appreciates British goods that have a reputation for high quality. Many opportunities exist over there as almost everything is imported."

Orn Valdimarsson, of the British Embassy in Reykjavik, said: "The trade mission from Business Link Bradford was a great success.

"Many of the companies that came over got orders and those that didn't are optimistic of success this year.

"I'd recommend any company to investigate opportunities in Iceland, they could be in for a surprise."

Business Link intends to organise a further Mission to Iceland in the second half of this year as well as a mission to Ireland in May.

Anyone interested in joining an overseas mission should contact Sam Grundy at Business Link on (01274) 751385.

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